Santa Clarita Valley Crime Watch

Foiled burglary attempt and 12-pack sleepwalking

July 19Burglary (vehicle)Nashua Way, ValenciaThieves broke into a locked 2004 red Honda Accord and stole more than $4,000 worth of golf clubs, an iPad valued at $350 and a case filled with CDs valued at $400, Santa Clarita Valley sheriff’s deputies wrote in a report. Entry was gained July 19 through the driver’s-side rear window, which was smashed, they wrote.

July 22Attempt burglaryThe Old Road, Stevenson RanchSome time between 9 p.m. July 22 and 8 a.m. July 23, thieves tried to break into a vacant business, deputies wrote. The owner of the property told deputies that “suspects attempted to pry open the rear door of the vacant store and were unsuccessful.” The owner also told them she believes the thieves were trying to gain access to a jewelry store next to the vacant office.

July 24Burglary (shoplifting)Magic Mountain Parkway, ValenciaAbout 2:50 p.m. Wednesday, a loss prevention officer at Target saw a man entering the store whom he recognized as a shoplifter, according the deputies. The officer watched the man put two bracelets, a scarf, food items, “a black item of clothing” and a bottle of weight loss pills into a hand basket. The man went to the rest room with the basket and emerged with only food inside it. The suspect paid only for the food. The man was found to have concealed the other items in his clothing. When booked into custody at the Sheriff’s Station, the jailer “took him into the back rest room where the suspect took off his pants and gave the jailer a black skirt from off his person. The skirt was over his underwear.”

July 24Petty theftMagic Mountain Parkway, ValenciaIn a five-minute period between 1:55 p.m. and 2 p.m. Wednesday, thieves stole a backpack from a woman resting in a lounge chair by the Wave Pool at Hurricane Harbor, deputies wrote in their report. They “stole her backpack while it was behind her lounge chair,” they wrote. The victim told them that she did not leave her bag unattended. After searching the area, the victim found her backpack on the ground empty. Stolen items included a $600 iPod and a wallet containing a debit card and a credit card.

July 27Drunk in publicTrespassingRio Lobo Way, ValenciaShortly before 5 a.m., a homeowner told deputies he was awakened “when he heard someone in his garage.” When the homeowner got up to investigate, he heard the suspect try to “open the locked interior garage door which leads to the inside of the house,” deputies wrote in their report. That’s when the homeowner called the Sheriff’s Department. Responding deputies found a man sleeping in the garage, they wrote. “I asked the suspect why he was in the garage, and he said ‘I don’t know.’ I then asked the suspect if he knew which garage he was in, and he said, ‘No. I was sleepwalking.’” When deputies asked how much he had to drink, he said a “12-pack of beer.”

All information is compiled from reports at the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station gathered Sunday. To report a crime, call 661-255-1121. To report a tip anonymously, call 800-222-8477.